The armored car moved through the neon-slicked arteries of the city like a phantom. Inside, the world was a cocoon of silent, conditioned air and the scent of expensive leather. My own world had shrunk to the throbbing, fiery universe of my forearm and the cold, damning words on Alexander’s dashboard screen. *Sought for Questioning.* A polite, clinical euphemism for *hunted*.
“He’s branded me,” I whispered, the words tasting like ash. “Before I could even speak, he’s already told the world who I am.”
Alexander didn’t offer empty platitudes. He drove with a lethal focus, his eyes constantly scanning the mirrors, the road, the city’s every shadow. “Reputation is a weapon, Elara. Richard has been honing his for decades. He just turned it on you.”
He pulled into the subterranean garage of a
